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August 19, 2015

I'm Sorry Gem. I Don't Know How It Happened.

I cheated.

There. I said it. It is now out in the open. Judge away.

Gem and I have had an exclusive relationship for 5.5 years. Most people find it very odd that I do extremely little with Pete and have only been on him twice: once when we bought him and again a year later when Gem was on stall rest for being an idiot. That's it in 5 years. Pete is Dusty's horse and we have very different opinions on horse care. With two healthy horses, it is hard to argue that either way is right or wrong however I have found it best to just stay out of it and let them do their own thing.

However, Hunter Pace season is upon us and I want that supporter award. Gem will not be cleared for doing the paces again for a few months, so that leaves me with either begging rides or riding Pete. Sorry, Pete. Your semi retirement is at an end.

Sunday afternoon, Dusty suggested that it might be a good idea for me to actually ride Pete once or twice before taking him to the pace in 2 weeks. I wasn't so sure, but agreed and went and plucked him out of his pasture where he was intently watching another gelding run around his owner to avoid being caught for the last hour.

He seemed a little surprised that it was me out there which is probably why he didn't bother to run away.

He followed me willingly to the trailer where he then proceeded to lose his shit about something in true Pete fashion. He is a massive spooky monster on the ground, but brave and bold under saddle. I hope that by the time Gem is ready to become my main squeeze again I will have gotten him over a lot of that.

I brushed and sprayed and scraped away at him. I always wonder where he came from, what his past included and what he was like before psycho woman owned him and ruined him.

Such a handsome boy

I decided to try my saddle on him. Why on earth I thought it would work is beyond me. The saddle fits my 15H, round barreled but still very narrow, flat back arab. Pete is extremely wide, broad, has a slight dip to his back and is round. It was too tight. I didn't want to ride in the Wintec Dusty uses and only planned to be up for a short walk, so I left it.

Red looks good on everyone

Right as I was about to scramble on his extremely tall back, Wyatt came running over begging to ride. Wyatt also has been having a riding dry spell since Gem got hurt and he really wanted up. I hoisted him up, Dusty walked beside and I led Pete down the trail to the back of the property where the cows are. He giggled the entire time.

Once we reached the cows, he was more than happy to get off without a fit which was our secrete plan. I looked up at Pete. Those stirrups seemed so far away. I barely got my foot in and scrambled up mumbling under my breath and cursing at 12 year old me who always had to have the biggest horse possible. Why are little girls like that?

Once perched on top, I breathed a big sigh to calm myself and Pete and then immediately noticed that my head was bare. I never ride without a helmet. Ever. And here I was at the farthest point on the property up on a horse I wasn't particularly familiar with and without a helmet. Stupid.

I asked him to walk. He obliged. We made it past the cows and turned down the road along the mare pasture. He started asking to trot so I let him knowing that Dusty lets him warm up at the trot a lot of the time. He picked up the smoothest ground covering trot I have ever rode. No wonder Dusty loves riding him.

Once we reached the house, I asked him to walk. He jigged. He gaped his mouth to avoid my half halts. He started to swerve. He started to get grumpy.

Typically I don't let horses do this, but without a helmet I was not ready to pick a fight. I let him do his jig across the front yard and over to the trailer where I jumped off. I debated grabbing my helmet and getting back on, but decided to just call it a day and try again later on. He had done well enough and we had been there for 3 hours already. Wyatt was tired, hot and thirsty and we still needed to clean up Gem's corral mess.

I put Pete back out and he looked really confused as to why it had been such a short ride. As I walked back to the trailer past Gemmie she came over to the fence and snorted loudly at me. She most certainly looked offended at my choice to ride someone other than her and was prancing along the fence following me. I apologized for cheating on her, but she isn't rideable right now and I have needs.

7 comments:

We will see if I survive them. Pete is a good boy, don't get me wrong, he just has a different language than I am used to. I have to ride every single step of every single ride on Gem. She really is a very difficult ride. Pete is open and honest and if you get on him he starts to feel claustrophobic. I think I will end up learning a lot from him.

Gem is such an aloof mare. She hides her feelings and sometimes it is hard to tell if she gives a rats behind about me or not. Well, she certainly showed me her thoughts on me riding Pete and while it was funny I also kind of felt bad for her. She doesn't hurt. She doesn't understand why she is in seclusion and not being ridden and now here I am on someone else. Hopefully she gets over it quickly once I can start doing short walk rides on her again in a couple of weeks.

This post was hilarious. Pete and Gracie would get along. Funnily enough, G-Mare is the one that gets jealous if I don't take the time to at least dote on her on days I'm only working with Lily. She'll pout, literally pout with her lips, ears and eyes all sullen. Until I touch her and then she's all happy again.

Lily is so happy with other horses most of the time that I'm the one that gets jealous...